Sunday, November 27, 2011

By Asghar Ali Engineer (Translated from English by Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

It is also necessary to understand the difference between Anna Hazare and Gandhi. Anna, at best, is Gandhian, not Gandhi. He has adopted Gandhian approach, nothing more, nothing less. Gandhi was original thinker and had much deeper understanding and above all he had pure motives and always heard voice of his conscience. Only those with pure motives can hear voice of conscience. In that respect Anna cannot be compared with Gandhi. He does not have deeper understanding and towering intellect, much less pure motives.

K.N. Panikkar, renowned historian in an interview with G. Krishnakumar

Such incidents pose a great threat to academic freedom. The academic space has become very vulnerable today. The educational institutions are being besieged by outside forces, both political and social, to shape the academic programmes in accordance with their world view. The political agenda of Hindu fundamentalists is to redefine the nation as Hindu and the ideological foundation of this re-articulation is monolithic Hinduism. When SAHMAT organised the exhibition Ham Sab Ayodhya in 1993, one panel depicted different versions of Rama Katha. This exhibition was disfigured and those involved in its organisation were assaulted by the members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. While Delhi University succumbed to political pressure exerted by the Hindu fundamentalists, in Kerala it was the turn of the Catholic Church to influence the type of history taught in the classrooms. It is common knowledge that Renaissance and Reformation in Europe cannot be made intelligible without explaining the practices of the medieval Church.

Islam teaches peace, tolerance and coexistence; but it is unfortunate that our religion is perceived as violent and intolerant. We Muslims are mainly responsible for this false perception. Followers of other religions do not read what is written in Qur’an and Hadees; they see what we Muslims do and practice and that is how they create negative images of Islam. Like us Muslims, Hindus also celebrate their religious festivals; but according to teaching of some ‘Muslim scholars’ we Muslims must not say ‘happy Divali’ to Hindus, as it is a sin. Their teaching further states that we Muslims cannot say ‘Happy Christmas’ to Christians and share happiness with non Muslims on their religious days. Rationale of this philosophy, according to this school of thought is that if I say happy Divali to a Hindu, it means I have accepted religious significance of this religious day. I don’t agree with this interpretation. When a Hindu says happy Eid Mubarak to me or another Muslim he is not accepting that there is one Allah and Prophet Mohammed PBUH is the last Messenger.

Many verses have been misunderstood out of context and some people think that the Quran contradicts itself and says in some places that intercession is valid and in others that it is not. According to the Quran, those denied intercession are the ones who did not believe, or those who transgressed: “The intercession of the intercessors will be of no use to them” (74:48), referring to those in hell. The Bani Israel are told, “Fear the Day (of Judgment when) … No fine will be acceptable and neither will any intercession be useful” (2:123). A Hadith states that on that day people will be running to and fro looking for an intercessor, until they come to the Prophet Muhammad, who will answer, “I am for intercession”. The Lord will then ask him to “…intercede, for your intercession will be heard” (Bukhari).

Conversions, Sharia kangaroo Courts, the Law of the land and Fragile Unity of Minorities

By John Dayal

In retrospect, the church in India has displayed remarkable sobriety and a sense of responsibility in their response to the arrest in Srinagar of Reverend Chander Mani Khanna, pastor of the All Saints Church. The Muslim Ulema of the rest of India have been reluctant to condemn the arrest, precipitated by the demand of a local Mufti. The vital issues of the rights of minorities, and freedom faith are however involved, which impinge on all minorities even in states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Orissa and remain relevant in Kashmir. I suppose one can understand their reluctance in the backdrop of the complexities and sensitivities involved in anything that is concerned with the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The same is the reason perhaps for the silence of civil society in India and in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Any Punishment for Apostasy, Let Alone Capital Punishment, is Anti-Islamic

By Muhammad Yunus, NewAgeIslam.com

1. Universality of the concept of Islam and of the criterion of divine judgment.

The Qur’an’s use of the noun Islam and its other roots (asslama, Muslim) demonstrates that members of all faith communities – Christians, Jews, and others – regardless of whether or not they are mentioned in the Qur’an (4:164, 40:78) belong to the universal din (way of life) of Islam that espouses submission (orienting oneself, asslama) to God and doing good deeds. The followers of the Prophet Muhammad are also given this name. “Indeed! Whoever commits (asslama) his whole being to God, and does good deeds - will get his reward from his Lord. There will be no fear upon them nor shall they grieve” (2:112).

2 There is no compulsion in religion.

The Qur’anic spirit of religious pluralism, intrinsic to the universality of the concept of the Islam (1 above) is reflected in its following pronouncements on the freedom of religion: “(There is) no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clearly from falsehood; so whoever rejects false deities and believes in God, has grasped a firm handhold, which never breaks.

Requirement of Muslim Unity: Reflections of a Concerned Muslim on the Eve of Moharram

By Rashid Samnakay, NewAgeIslam.com

A community of Muslims on the other shore of the great divide of sectarian schism will express its unbridled sorrow in the streets of their towns and in their houses of worship during the next few days; commemorating the events that took place fourteen centuries ago and culminating in the legend of the martyrdom of the grandson and great grandson of the last messenger of God; at Karbala in Iraq --at the hands of a fellow Muslim’s army; who was contending for the glory of State Power!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

By Asghar Ali Engineer (Translated from English by Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

Religion can be what we want it to be. There are instances of religion being used for peace and also those of spreading hate. There are many deeply religious people who devoted their lives for the cause of peace and harmony. Foremost among them in our own times is Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. from USA. Gandhi stood for non-violence and so interpreted his religious tradition as well as other traditions like Christianity and Islam as to establish peace. --

Don't be afraid of the Islamists. In the Maldives, the conservative Islamist Adhaalath Party was until recently a key political ally of Nasheed's government. The partnership, while it lasted, wasn't easy. To keep the Islamists happy, for example, Nasheed did little to change the country's extremely punitive apostasy laws. In an interview with me in Malé, Ahmed Shaheed, a top foreign policy official in Nasheed's government, explained the rationale for working with the Islamists — their grassroots appeal: That's where the mullahs excel.

I began by pointing out that the maulvi as an economic profession came into being in the face of unambiguous edicts of the Holy Quran, Hadith and the great interpreters and experts of Islamic Fiqh or jurisprudence to the contrary. Somewhere during the 15th century AD, what was absolutely haram was turned into halal by those who monopolised the divine word. Then I mentioned the salient features of the system of imparting and disseminating religious learning which existed before the advent of the new modes of communication, travel and education.

“Let the free people of the world know that we could have bargained over and sold out our cause in return for a personally secure and stable life. We received many offers to this effect but we chose to be at the vanguard of the confrontation as a badge of duty and honour. Even if we do not win immediately, we will give a lesson to future generations that choosing to protect the nation is an honour and selling it out is the greatest betrayal that history will remember forever despite the attempts of the others to tell you otherwise.”.... he also expressed a simple wish: “Should I be killed, I would like to be buried, according to Muslim rituals, in the clothes I was wearing at the time of my death and my body unwashed, in the cemetery of Sirte, next to my family and relatives. I would like that my family, especially women and children, be treated well after my death.”

Some political experts argue that the Afghan Taliban are irreconcilable because “stocked hatred, opening old wounds and deepening ethnic tensions in an already volatile country like Afghanistan where fear of civil war is growing after the withdrawal of foreign forces. Notably, in an interview with BBC on October 27, ISPR spokesman Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas pointed out that Pakistan has “not been informed and taken into confidence on a possible roadmap of the reconciliation process so far” with the militants and “what are its objectives.”

"A cousin of mine committed suicide just two days after starting a new job in Oman. Another cousin who worked in a cattle feed factory went missing for four months. I knew there would be hundreds of cases like this." He was wrong: It turns out there are thousands of such stories. Most stories revolve around trying to locate a missing husband. Huge migration flows from southern India over the past three decades, of mostly men in search of jobs, has left millions of so-called "Gulf wives" stuck in their communities, raising their children alone and entirely dependent on remittances from their overseas partners.

“Thus we made for every messenger an enemy – Satans from among men and jinn, some of them inspiring others with seductive talk (in order to) deceive (them), and had your Lord pleased, they would not have done it. Therefore, leave them and what they forge (6:112), that the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter may incline to it; let them take pleasure in it and earn whatever they expect to earn” (6:113). “Thus we made for every messenger an enemy among the criminals – but enough is your Lord (O Muhammad,) as a Guide and Helper” (25:31). The Qur’an thus warns humanity that there will always be some people who will hurl seductive remarks at the Prophet (6:113) or be inimical to him (25:31) for fun or cupidity and asks the believers to simply ignore them.

New York: As part of the week-long “Many Facets of America” Tour of visiting Asian Muslim journalists, organized by the Department of State, we got to meet two remarkable young American Muslims. Starting from the idea of breaking their Ramadan fast in 30 different mosques and discovering the variety of Muslims who live in New York and have mosques in different areas, these two friends writer Aman Ali and filmmaker Bassam Tariqwent on to travel across the United States of America in 30 states this year in Ramadan in a fascinating journey of discovering the variety of Islam that is practiced and Muslims that live here.

Monday, November 7, 2011

One day while I was travelling on a public bus on my way to university, I felt a hand on my backside. Startled, I turned around in an attempt to catch the culprit. However, the only person standing behind me was an old man. Clad in a white shalwar kameez and topi, this man’s pure white beard was long enough to reach his chest. He couldn’t have been less than seventy-years-old. I doubted myself, thinking that I was just being paranoid and it was probably an accident. The old man probably had several grandchildren my age. He would never commit such an act. I turned back around. Thirty seconds later I felt the hand again. I was outraged. I turned and confronted the old man, but he pretended to be deaf. ”Excuse me! I am talking to you. What do you think you are doing?

For many, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally in Lahore indicated a nationalist upsurge — the sudden pride in being a Pakistani who was part of the process of an upbeat political activity. The sense of elation was natural, given the fact that crisis rather than the lack of it has become the rule rather than the exception. An average Pakistani seems to be on a never-ending roller coaster ride. Nations that get sucked into such a whirlwind often lose their sense of making appropriate choices.

It was the “mission accomplished” moment that millions of Americans had been waiting for and many of us considered long overdue: the official end to the war in Iraq and the return of all U.S. troops. Whether you believe the operation in Iraq was a noble cause or pure folly, President Obama’s announcement last month that fighting men and women would be coming home to their families in time for the holidays was cause for celebration. It also should raise an alarm.

One can understand the euphoria that penetrated the ranks of many young Pakistanis who are seeing Imran’s long-drawn arrival on the country’s mainstream political scene as some kind of a revolutionary movement in the making. Of course, one should bear in mind we are talking about a generation that gets its history lessons and learns politics not from academically sound books, research papers or even from good old-fashioned discourses between differing ideological poles but from finger-wagging orators masquerading as talk-show hosts, ‘security analysts’ and televangelists, or worse, from those dramatic documentaries that claim to unearth everything from modern Freemasons, to 9/11 conspiracies to the ‘al-dajjal’ (anti-Christ) on YouTube! Imran’s rally had absolutely nothing to do with any sort of a revolution.

New York: Opening new galleries for the fascinating Arts of Islamic Lands, New York’s Metropolitan Museum appears to have delivered a huge slap in the face of Wahhabi Cultural Terrorism. The ideological centre of Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia has been busy demolishing every vestige of Islamic culture and history in the Muslim land. The United States has just finished a decade-long effort to preserve Islamic Art and craft, architecture and history and created a space for all Muslims and non-Muslims to exult in the glory of Islamic Art. The contrast couldn’t be starker. ...

Moving from room to room in these New York Metropolitan art galleries was like being transported instantly in both space and time, rejoicing in the exquisite beauty, splendour and brilliance of Islamic art created by Arab, Persian, Turkish, Indian artists. Conscious of the near-moribund state of Islamic inventiveness today, it was difficult to believe that Muslims, and indeed in many cases Arabs, had created so much beauty not very long ago. One room in the galleries was created by a Moroccan artist brought here and left for months to demonstrate his skills. So the Arab Art is not completely dead even today despite massive Saudi, Wahhabi efforts to delegitimize all quest for beauty and radiance.

Today and tomorrow all around the world Muslims will be sacrificing animals to please God.

Sacrifice something in the name of God should be something that really means something to you; and you have an attachment to that thing. Abraham fulfilled his devotion to God by exhibiting his full intention to sacrifice his son. That is not, what is happening today on the streets of Karachi or elsewhere. What is happening today is a disgrace to the word Qurbani that God had intended it to be? It’s nothing but the mockery of the Abraham’s devotion to God.

Today we have unique challenges: we have the Islamists but without the spirit of Islam; we have democracy without the democrats and we have liberals without liberalism. All my siblings fancied that black goat with big eyes and a furry mane. We joined our servant and took turns in feeding her, cleaning her shed and in walking her around. She even fell ill before Eid so we called a vet who took care of that. And then came the day of the sacrifice. I do not know how animals have an intuition of what is about to happen or there is a thing called ‘animal ESP’. But from the night before Eid, our goat’s usual baah’s and meh’s changed to moans.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The image of God’s men exerting force on women and being afraid of an earthly complaint is all a bit odd when thinking of the Prophetic character. Do they really think they’re furthering God’s wishes on earth? If so, why does their lack of tact so contradict the manner of the last prophet who, through kindness, won the hearts of the rigid Meccans? Some have more forcefully tried to convince me that it’s feminine to have a clean shave. “If you keep a beard, my heart will automatically draw toward you because you’ll be fulfilling a Sunnah,” said a man, who hardly knew me, at the Columbia University prayer room….

The film is notable for its portrayal of Hinduism and of the British. Hindus are presented as miserable, corrupt, and sexually debauched while the British are scheming. Muslims, meanwhile, are poor and hard working. Ilam Din (Haider) is depicted as a blessed Muslim from the moment of his birth. When a mullah recites Azan (call for prayers) in his ear, the new-born Ilam Din stops crying and listens to Azan attentively. The mullah interprets this as a blessed sign. In contrast, Raj Pal (Afzal Ahmed) is greedy, scheming and sexually wayward. He is fond of a Red Light Area girl who is also a Hindu. Raj Pal wants to publish an inflammatory book to provoke the Muslims.

The Afghans have been in a war now for the last three decades, with a testing period of Taliban rule in between. They deserve their share of sanity and normalcy. They have been mauled by history and by the ‘Great Game’ players. This should equally be what both America and Pakistan must seek. America is now suffering the consequences of involvement in a prolonged war. Pakistan is in worse straits. Having been declared a ‘front line ally’ in this war against terror it has gotten mired deeper and deeper in the war. In that role, she has suffered some telling adversity.

The caption may shock most Muslim men who believe that God has raised their ranks over women and given them the right to beat up a ‘rebellious’ or ‘disobedient’ wife. Any Qur’anic translation in Urdu, Hindi, English or any other language for that matter, of the verses 4:34 and 2:229 will support such notions. “Men are the supporters (qawwamah) of (their) wives because God has favored each of them in different measures (ba'dahum ‘ala ba'din), and because of what they spend (for them) of their wealth.

Issues and Challenges facing the Muslim World: How Green is My Valley?

By MJ Akbar

We Muslims lose the argument when we become either submissive-defensive, or aggressive-hysterical. There is a lot of space in-between. We need to establish that an alternative voice is not a hostile voice. A critical fact: the intellectual onslaught against Muslims started long before 9/11, it was not a reaction. Huntington wrote about a clash of civilisations seven years before 9/11. It was a time when almost every Muslim nation had supported America in the wars for the liberation of Afghanistan and Kuwait. To blame the neocons is not enough. We have to answer them.

Compassion begins with empathy. Empathy is the ability to feel for another. They who are sensitive to the motions of life, to the experiences of pain and pleasure are capable of empathy. They who have watched the movements of their thoughts, the burden of unnecessary thinking, and the pain of conflicting thoughts know it well. They, who have paid attention to their emotional upsurges, the unintelligent ways of anger, hurt or hate, the irrationality of fear, feel empathy for another who is going through a similar emotion. Hence, compassion begins with attention to one's own life experiences, be it physical or emotional.

These ill-fated families had everything in abundance including loss, yet continued to become much-loved legacies. Fairy tales will always be just that, fairy tales! Happily ever after can never reach the extraordinary heights reached by its antagonist, tragedy.

About a year ago, I was in Mecca performing the Umrah pilgrimage and praying for Gaddafi's death. I had come to the view that Gaddafi was the main cause of all the problems in my country, and the only solution I could think of was to pray for his end. Maybe one day I would wake up to hear that he had died and someone else would replace him. This was the only hope I had of a better future for Libya.

It seems to be a season of protests and vigils in Pakistan. In recent days, we have seen people take to streets for assorted reasons ranging from electricity, load shedding, Mumtaz Qadri, presumably Steve Jobs and now potentially Muammar Qaddafi.

“When Ghazi Ilmuddin killed Singh for blasphemy nobody said he was not liable to be tried under the law… Today the situation is radically different. The orthodox clerics are supporting their quaint theory of private justice and denying a person’s accountability under the law on the ground that his action is not an offence under the Islamic code”.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Asghar Ali Engineer in an interview with Mohammed Wajihuddin (Translated from English by-Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

My struggle has been two-pronged - one is within my Dawoodi Bohra community and the other is for reforms and change in understanding Islam. The reformist movement in Dawoodi Bohras has met limited success, but we have not given up. I have fought against narrow interpretations of Quranic verses and the Hadiths. I have always maintained that Islam should be understood in a modern context, not with a prism formulated by medieval scholars. --Asghar Ali Engineerin an interview withMohammed Wajihuddin (Translated from English by-Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

But newly democratic Maldives is up against a serious challenge - religious extremism. Maldivians are Sunni Muslim and adherence to Islam is required for citizenship. Historically, religion has been an important part of the daily lives of Maldivians, but the Islam followed here was never rigid or puritanical.Maldivian Islam is suffused with local cultural practices and faith in Islam has co-existed with the belief in spirits - djinns. Alongside praying to Allah, Maldivians turned to magic and spells for protection against evil spirits.Traditionally, women did not veil their faces or cover their heads and men did not grow beards. Interaction between men and women was allowed and arranged marriages, practiced in most Islamic societies, was never the norm here. -- Sudha Ramachandran

The war in Afghanistan costs US taxpayers two billion dollars a week. However, these phenomenal figures have not translated into anything tangible for Afghan women. Ten years ago on October 7, the NATO troops, captained by the USA, landed in Afghanistan. This UN-mandated invasion was coached in beautiful slogans like liberation of Afghan women from misogynist Taliban. Ten years on, the situation in our country, however, remains grim. Widespread violence, lack of health care and poverty make Afghanistan the worse country in the world for women, according to a study by the Thomson-Reuters Foundations. Such studies, by the way, have become common place. The Thomson-Reuters study was based on interviews with 213 experts world-wide. This study placed Afghanistan on top of five worst countries for women. -- Sahar Saba

Samir's short, eventful journey abruptly ended last week. Clearly, he was as dangerous for America as Anwar Al-Awlaki although he never fired a shot nor killed anyone. Along with Awlaki, he's one of the first US citizens to be killed by their own government. A promising life cut short. An appalling tragedy. But Samir's sudden death isn't just the tragedy of a peace-loving immigrant family. This is an American tragedy and a failure of all those fine ideals and principles that America once stood for. This is the end of American dream. US drones are now killing men, women and children like flies all across the Middle East and beyond. The drone that killed Awlaki, Samir and two others was launched from a new site on Arabian Peninsula. Due process, rule of law? Are you kidding me? Who can dare to confront Uncle Sam, the judge, jury and executioner? Except for some stray voices in blogosphere, few in the land of the free have bothered to debate the legality of this White House-authorized killing of US citizens, let alone the daily slaughter of civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan. -- Aijaz Zaka Syed

"As in the past we [Muslims] have saved Europe from the dark ages, we now plan to do the same. Now we have the right solution for all crises and this is the observance of the divine law, namely Sharia. We call to implement Sharia in Belgium." "Sharia is the perfect system for humanity. In 1300 years of the Islamic state we knew only order, welfare and the protection of all human rights. We know that Spain, France and Switzerland knew their best times under Sharia. In these 1300 years, 120 women were raped, which is equal to 120 women a day in Europe. There were barely 60 robberies recorded in 1300 years." "As a result, we invite the royal family, parliament, all the aristocracy and every Belgian resident to submit to the light of Islam. Save yourself and your children of the painful punishment of the hereafter and grant yourself eternal life in paradise." -- Soeren Kern

The present day Islamophobia driven greenhorn scholarship draws on the Qur’anic verses with exhortations to kill the Mushriks (technically ‘mushrikin’, translated as unbelievers, disbelievers, idol worshippers) to project Islam as a violent religion that permits killing the ‘Mushriks’. Some radical groups in India fan communal hatred and violence by quoting these verses, applying the word ‘al-mushrikin’ to the Hindus. “He is the One God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the Self within all beings, watching over all works, the witness, the perceiver, the only One, free from all qualities (that humans attribute to Him).” Svetesvatra Upanishad 6.11. “The hypocrite men and women are of the same kind. They enjoin the evil, and forbid the good, and hold back their hands (from giving to the needy). They are oblivious of God and God is oblivious of them, and without doubt, they are the deviants (fasiqun) (9:67). -- Muhammad Yunus, NewAgeIslam.com